British TV journalist Martin Bashir's highly anticipated portrait of Michael Jackson -- who reputedly offered full access -- was aired in the UK on Monday, and its revelations quickly traveled across the Atlantic. ABC will air a version of the documentary this Thursday, a day earlier than was previously announced.
During the course of the show, which includes footage of the star on a $6 million shopping spree, Jackson, 44, admits that he still permits children to sleep in his bedroom with him, despite spending millions of dollars in an out-of-court settlement over child abuse allegations in 1993. He also said he has chastely shared his bed with the Culkin kids.
"I have slept in a bed with many children," Reuters quotes Jackson as saying on the show. "I slept in a bed with all of them when Macaulay Culkin was little. Kieran Culkin would sleep on this side, Macaulay Culkin was on this side, his sisters in there. We all would just jam in the bed."
Jackson goes on to say that he wants to adopt two children from every continent, and that his 1-year-old son, Prince Michael II (known as Blanket), was born to a surrogate mother. He has two other children -- Prince Michael I, 5, and Paris, 4 -- born during his marriage to nurse Debbie Rowe.
Jackson said that when Paris was born, "I snatched her and just went home with all the placenta and everything all over her. I'm not kidding. Got her in a towel and ran. They said it was fine. ... And I got her home and washed it all off."
He also said he would be happy for his children to stay the night with such friends as Barry Gibb.
Among the recollections by Jackson: He was "scared to death" when his teenage sweetheart Tatum O'Neal tried to seduce him; and his father, Joseph, used to beat him and his brothers with a strap if they slipped up during rehearsal. He says he has only had two nose jobs, to improve his singing.
On his skin color: "I don't control the fact I have vitiligo. I don't control how many white people when they are little kids look white, and they sit out in the sun all day to look black. ... Nobody says nothing about that."
If the viewer interest in Britain is any indication, ABC should expect huge ratings for the documentary on Thursday. The UK broadcast pulled in a whopping 14 million viewers, a strong performance for TV programs there.
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